National Gallery of Canada

Vancouver-based artist Steven Shearer was chosen by a national committee of accomplished contemporary art curators from across the country to represent Canada at the 54th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale in 2011.

Internationally known for an artistic practice that embraces traditional and non-traditional media, Shearer’s works address the human subject and its relationship with the outside world. Adopting and elaborating upon distinct stylistic repertoires and themes specific to the history of figure painting, Shearer draws formal and thematic parallels between art history and the iconography associated with various subcultures, including their modes of dissemination such as fanzines, online message boards and image shrines on personal websites. He is interested in how contemporary society unconsciously echoes and shapes specific manners of appearance that have been explored by historical movements and artistic schools.

Since 1999, Shearer has been exhibiting his work internationally, most notably with solo shows in Amsterdam, Birmingham, Los Angeles, New York, Tokyo, Toronto, Turin, Vancouver and Zurich. In recent years, eight of his works have entered Canada’s national collection. The National Gallery of Canada has acquired eight of his works for its collection.

Group Exhibitions

His group exhibitions include Double Album: Daniel Guzmán and Steven Shearer at MUCA, University Museum of Arts and Sciences, Mexico City, and at the New Museum, New York (2008); The Order of Things at Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Antwerp (2008); Blasted Allegories. Works from the Ringier Collection at Museum of Art Lucerne (2008); Canada Dreaming at Kunstverein Wolfsburg (2006); All the Pretty Corpses at The Renaissance Society, The University of Chicago (2005); Pin Up: Contemporary Collage and Drawing at Tate Modern, London (2004); and Rock My World: Recent Art and the Memory of Rock ‘n’ Roll at the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco (2002).